Wall Street quiet as market focus turns to an expected interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve

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Premarket trading on Wall Street was quietly mixed Wednesday as the financial world's focus turned to expectations for the Federal Reserve's first interest rate cut of the year.

Futures for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were both down less than 0.1% before the bell, while futures for the Dow Jones industrials were up less than 0.1%.

Most economists and Wall Street analysts are expecting the Fed to announce a quarter-point rate cut Wednesday, which would be its first of the year. The U.S. central bank has been holding off on cutting rates because inflation has remained above its 2% target, fearing that lower interest rates could give it more fuel.

Recent data has shown that the U.S. job market has not been as strong as previously thought and traders now believe Fed officials view that as the bigger danger for the economy than the threat of higher inflation because of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

With a 25 basis point cut expected by most to be a virtual certainty, much of the focus Wednesday will be on the Fed's quarterly economic projections that will be released after the meeting. Many economists forecast they will show that officials expect three total reductions this year and at least two more next year, which would give a slowing but still steady economy a boost.

Treasury yields continued their months long decline, with the 2-year yield dipping to 3.51% and the 10-year yield matching a 2025 low of 4.01%.

In equities trading before the open, Workday gained 8% after activist investor Elliott Investment Management announced it had more than $2 billion invested in the the company, which offers cloud-based finance and human resource software.

Shares of RCI Hospitality Holdings tumbled 6.2% after the New York attorney general announced that five company executives had been charged with bribery and other crimes for trying avoid paying millions of dollars in sales taxes. RCI owns and operates more than 60 strip clubs, sports bars and restaurants across the country, including Rick’s Cabaret.

Also Wednesday, the online ticket marketplace StubHub will trade publicly for the first time, with an initial public offering priced at $23.50 per share. The company’s stock will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “STUB.”

Elsewhere, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 0.3% to finish at 44,790.38.

The Finance Ministry reported Japan's exports to the U.S. dropped 13.8% in August compared to the same month the previous year, marking the fifth straight month of declines, as auto exports were hit by President Donald Trump's tariffs.

U.S. tariffs on Japanese automobiles and auto parts dropped from 27.5%, the amount Trump initially levied, to 15% this week, still higher than the original 2.5%. Wednesday's data was for the month of August, when the tariffs were higher. Japan's overall exports to the world for the month were little changed, slipping 0.1%, as exports grew to Europe and the Middle East.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.7% to 8,818.50. South Korea's Kospi dropped nearly 1.1% to 3,413.40.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng surged 1.8% to 26,908.39, while the Shanghai Composite rose nearly 0.4% to 3,876.34, as technology shares rose on what analysts said were hopes investments in artificial intelligence will prove lucrative. Alibaba Group stocks jumped 2.6%, while Baidu stocks surged nearly 16%.

In Europe at midday, France’s CAC 40 lost 0.3%, while the German DAX edged down 0.2%. Britain’s FTSE 100 added nearly 0.3%.